The sword of retribution
by powerstaark
Summary: Bartimaeus mourns the death of Ptolemy. When he's summoned again he discovers he's been charged to kill Ptolemy's cousin, the same man that organised Ptolemy's murder. Oneshot.


I floated through the calm serenity of the Other Place. Any other time I would be content to be here and I'd enjoy the peace the Other Place provided but right now I was too grief-stricken to appreciate the wonders of my home.

Grief was an emotion I had never felt before. I had felt many emotions in the long centuries of my life; anger, hatred, gratefulness, smugness, happiness, even regret once or twice but grief was not one of them.

Ptolemaeus of Alexandria was dead.

Ptolemy had been more to me than my master. He was my friend. The only true friend I'd ever had; the only person I had ever loved, human or Spirit. There was no limit to our bond.

I would have cried except I didn't have a body in the Other Place. I could conjure up a puppet to cry for me but I was too upset to bother. Besides I doubt it would feel the same. I'd never cried before even though I'd been alive for almost three millennia (in Earth time that is. In the Other Place time doesn't really exist. You should know that already but since many humans are pea brained dunderheads I thought you might have forgotten). I felt as though part of my essence had been torn away, as though part of me had died with him. I would never hear him ask questions about the Other Place again, never joke with him again, never see the dreamy expression he got whenever I mentioned the Other Place again. I would have preferred the Shrivelling Fire rather than the terrible emptiness Ptolemy's death had left in me.

I would have stayed with him if he hadn't dismissed me. I would have fought to the death to protect him and I would have been happy – honoured – to die by his side. I'm not usually the self sacrificing type and I usually get dubious about 'heroic last stands' but I would do anything for Ptolemy. Part of me felt angry at Ptolemy for not letting me even _try _to protect him but deep down I knew I couldn't have saved him even if I had stayed. I'd have been killed too. He had saved my life.

In that moment I made myself a promise. As a sign of respect for my master and best friend I would wear his form on Earth. Not all the time, there were times when other forms would be needed, but I would do it in memory of the boy who had meant more to me than anything or anyone in his world or in mine.

'I'll never forget you Ptolemy,' I said quietly to the energy of the Other Place which swirled around me. My friend was gone forever but I would carry his memory with me until the day I died, 'Farewell my friend.'

* * *

I don't know how much time I spent in the Other Place but eventually the worst of my grief had faded and I allowed my essence to relax. I knew I'd never truly get over Ptolemy's death but I'd have to deal with it. Besides he was a human so it was more likely than not he would die long before me even if those Djinn hadn't been set on us. I thought about the other Djinn that had died to protect Ptolemy. I had grown quite friendly with them and they were almost as fond of Ptolemy as I was so I felt a little upset about their deaths too but it was nowhere near as bad as the grief I felt about Ptolemy.

Suddenly I felt a familiar tugging at my essence. Instinctively I tried to resist but I was cruelly tugged from my place of resting and found myself in a pentacle. I was about to transform into a terrifying demon but then remembered the promise I'd made myself in the Other Place. I took Ptolemy's form instead (I had not mastered turning into Ptolemy yet as I'd only had to turn into him once before when a bunch of assassins tried to murder him, but I did my best. I could improve on the details later) and looked out at the magician.

He didn't look like much (then again you humans rarely do). He was short but slightly overweight with black hair and brown skin. His eyes were watching me very differently from the way Ptolemy had when he summoned me. They held none of Ptolemy's warmth but were cold and emotionless.

'Bartimaeus,' he said in a deep voice, 'I charge you to kill the king of Alexandria.' Alexandria? That was the place where Ptolemy had lived and died. Did he mean Ptolemy's brutish drunken cousin? (I'm assuming that Ptolemy's cousin had taken over from his father by now) Or was I in the Other Place longer than I thought? At least this fellow got straight to the point. 'I charge you to infiltrate his palace, kill him and then return here.'

'Hang on,' I said, 'before I go I want to ask you something.'

'You are in no position to ask questions,' said the man coldly, 'now be gone.' I felt the familiar tug at my essence as he said the first dismissal but I didn't leave just yet.

'How long has it been since Ptolemaeus of Alexandria died?' I said. The magician eyed me for a moment.

'Why do you care?' he said.

'I'm just interested,' I said and the magician eyed me a moment more and then shrugged.

'No harm in telling you that. It's been five years since Ptolemaeus died,' he said.

'Thank you,' I said, and my essence left the pentacle and went out into the world.

* * *

The palace of Ptolemy's ugly, drunken, smelly, disgusting cousin was large as a palace should be. It was built on the edge of a huge bustling city. I arrived outside its gates and flicked through the seven planes. There was a simple defence on the outside, a net of webs stretching over every entrance but I'd gotten through that sort of thing before. Inside the palace there were a few imps and foliots and perhaps a low levelled Djinni or two but I should be able to handle them without much trouble. I remembered Ptolemy's cousin used to get all wound up about magic but now his palace was alive with it. For all I knew the drunken idiot might not even know about the defences.

I had chosen the guise of a scarab beetle as I headed towards the magical net crisscrossing one of the palace's windows. I felt a little excited. I rather looked forward to making Ptolemy's cousin pay for what he'd done to my best friend.

I blew a little Enchanted Breath through one of the tiny magical strings. It was too light to activate the defence and I made the breath expand, pushing out the threads around it and creating a hole, large enough for the scarab beetle to sneak through. Piece of cake. I transformed into an Egyptian cat which were commonly found in places like this. I strode confidently forwards flicking my tail in a casual manner.

I wondered briefly where Ptolemy's cousin would be right now. Knowing him he was probably flirting with some girl while destroying his insides with alcohol. I was glad I'd get a chance to kill him before the alcohol did.

I found an imp on the upper stairs in the form of a cat a lot like mine. I decided to ask him a few questions so I strode out flicking my tail in a cheerful manner.

'Hello there,' I said. This imp was a low levelled so he probably only had access to three or four planes. I hid my true form on the fifth, sixth and seventh planes. On the ones below I was an imp just like him. The imp looked up casually.

'Oh hello,' he said, 'don't reckon I've seen you round here before.'

'No I was only summoned recently,' I licked a paw as a cat should. A servant came walking past us without sparing us a glance. 'I was wondering could you give me a tour of this place? I'd like to get to know my way around a bit better.'

'Sure,' said the imp shrugging, 'what's you're name?'

'My name is,' I thought up one as I was speaking, 'Bran.' I said without any noticeable hesitation between the words.

'I'm Quasimodo,' said the imp and picked himself up and stretched in a convincingly cat like way. 'Come on then, I'll show you around.

Quasimodo led me through the twisting corridors. How a human could find their way through this place I'll never knows but eventually Quasimodo led me to a kitchen. (I was half expecting my old chum Faquarl to be in there. He's been obsessed with kitchens ever since I first knew him. Of course he was even more obsessed with making idiotic, bone headed schemes to overthrow humans but I was sensible enough to ignore him. Fortunately there was no sign of any spirit anywhere near as powerful as Faquarl let alone the big man himself). I looked around the kitchen feigning interest. This mission seemed a little too easy.

We moved onto a huge bathroom with a bath the size of a small swimming pool. There were pillars all around it and some stone steps leading into the water on our end of the room.

'The master loves this room,' said Quasimodo, 'He often comes in here with his wife.' Wife? This little imp was telling me that that ugly, smelly, stupid, drunken excuse for a human being (humans are lowly enough as it is without him messing up their reputation even further) had a wife? Why the hell would anyone be attracted to him? Actually I could think of a good reason. Power. That's what humans always seem to be obsessed with these days. Except of course Ptolemy.

'Well I hope the master has good taste in women,' I said as we moved on eventually arriving in the throne room. It was large and had pillars on each side to hold up the ceiling. There were two large golden thrones at the far end and a long strip of red carpet going down the middle. I sniffed dismissively. I've seen better throne rooms than this in my time. Oh the thrones were nice and it was large but most of the decoration was focused on the thrones rather than the rest of the room.

We continued until we reached the kings chambers. This was a large room with a fine bed at the end. Candles hung in brackets around the room and the floor was made of a white carpet. The quilt on the bed was a purple colour and so were the hangings around the bed.

'Nice,' I said looking around. This would be a good place to ambush Ptolemy's cousin when he came in to go to bed. I half hoped his wife wouldn't be with him for her sake. It would be a pity if I had to kill her too.

Once the tour was over I waited outside the king's room still in the form of a cat. Quasimodo had gone off on some charge or another so I had some time all to myself. I thought about how I was going to kill Ptolemy's cousin. I didn't just want to murder him in his sleep; he needed to pay for what he'd done to Ptolemy.

Eventually the sky outside darkened and I stretched in a cat like way and lay down curling my tail around myself as I watched both ends of the corridor. Then the king came down the corridor.

He was the same one alright. I recognised his slouching steps and his watery eyes. I felt a surge of hatred towards him. This was the man who had organised the death of my master. This disgusting bastard had been convinced Ptolemy was trying to take the throne when all Ptolemy wanted was knowledge. Why couldn't he have just left Ptolemy alone?

The king didn't even glance at me as he went past. I briefly wondered where his wife was but dismissed it and followed him into the room. Then I took Ptolemy's form.

'Hello cousin,' I said quietly and the king whirled around staring at me in horror.

'No it can't be…' he said backing up against the bed, 'You're dead!' This was an effective method of revenge. Having the man's dead cousin assassinate him was quite satisfying. I smirked and sent an Inferno towards him. The king screamed in agony as the flames engulfed him and I laughed. Oh this was good!

'Help!' screamed the king, 'Demon!' I gestured creating a Bulb of Silence and smirked as I stepped forwards.

'No one can hear you scream,' I hissed, 'you organised the death of my dearest friend. Now I'm going to make you pay.' The king looked up at me in terror as I prepared to blast him with another Inferno but then I stopped.

I was taking sadistic pleasure in this. I was enjoying the king's pain. I suddenly felt guilty. Ptolemy would have never put anyone through this sort of pain and putting the king through torture, especially in the guise of my old master was an insult to his memory. I realised that I couldn't remember Ptolemy this way. This was not a way of showing my respect for him this was a sadistic murder (of course the murder part was necessary as I was still under a charge but the torture was only for myself). I decided to put the king out of his misery.

I sent a Detonation blasting the king head on and blowing up his bed and the king along with it. The king's body was buried under the bed as it fell down on top of him. I turned towards the door which suddenly opened revealing a house maid. She stared at the destroyed bed then at the king's legs, the only part of him still visible under the rubble then she dropped her pillows and screamed. And unfortunately she was outside the room and the Bulb of Silence didn't extend that far.

I sent a Detonation weaker than the one I had used on the king and blasted the maid against the wall outside before darting out of the room. I leapt through the nearest window transforming into an eagle in the same movement and found myself in a courtyard. There was a large statue if Ptolemy's cousin in the courtyard with a sword lifted in an unsuitably heroic pose. I felt a little disgusted that anyone would build a statue of that king. I swooped into the sky…and was stopped with a loud squawk of frustration as a Nexus appeared across the sky crisscrossing its way and blocking my escape. It took quite a bit of magic to create a nexus that large.

I turned and searched for another exit. The gates were closed and locked but I should be able to bust my way through. Then I stopped and felt a tingling on the seventh plane. I turned and groaned.

An afrit was floating behind me in the guise of an eagle similar to my own. Down on the ground was another old friend. The bald headed priest I had once seen when Ptolemy's cousin came to visit. I swallowed as the afrit leered at me. This wasn't good at all.

'Algar,' said the priest in that voice I remembered so well from our last encounter, 'destroy the Djinni.'

'Yes master,' Algar replied quietly and smirked at me, 'Ready to meet your maker Djinni?'

'Uh, no?' I said hopefully. Algar chuckled quietly and sent an Inferno from his beak towards me. I dropped down beneath the Inferno and retaliated with a Detonation but Algar formed a Shield around himself easily blocking the projectile.

'Is that all you've got?' he sneered. I scowled and sent a Spasm towards him but the Shield reappeared and he fired a Spasm of his own. I did a barrel roll in the air before firing an Inferno but he countered with one of his own which blasted through mine without too much trouble. I barely managed to avoid getting burned to a crisp. So far Algar hadn't even moved from his spot. He was just floating there with a confident smirk on his face.

'You're very arrogant you know,' I said conversationally.

'You think I care?' Algar replied, 'I am a third level Afrit and I'm far more powerful than a pathetic Djinni like you.'

'Do you even know who I am?' I asked coldly.

'No and I don't care,' said Algar firing another Inferno. Once again I dodged swooping swiftly in a circle around the Afrit who whirled sending a barrage of Inferno's at me. I dodged them all but I knew I couldn't keep it up for long.

Algar seemed to be losing patience with his barrage of missed Inferno's so for the first time he moved from the spot and flew towards me his great wings beating. He clawed at me with his sharp talons but I dodged sending a close range Inferno into his chest. The Afrit gave a roar of discomfort and retaliated with a Spasm which I hastily avoided before hurling a Detonation towards him. The Afrit blew it straight back at me with a Hurricane blasting me to the ground. I groaned as I tried to get up. I saw Algar float down towards me with a smirk on his ugly beak. I tried to get up but he pinned me under his talons.

'Any last words?' he asked. That's what they all say.

'Last words? Hm that's a tough one,' I said, 'I always pictured my last words would be a long winded speech designed to distract the person trying to kill me allowing me to come up with an ingenious plan of escape, thus saving my life and allowing me to reuse the tactic against a different idiot who asks me if I have any last words. But who knows? Maybe that same idiot will keep allowing me to say my last words but that idiot is so idiotic that he doesn't realise I'm insulting him nonstop and nor does he try to stop me from talking non stop thus allowing me to prattle on endlessly. Oh I was talking about my last words. Are you listening because if you are I want you to reflect on what I've said for perhaps two seconds, OK? OK. Here are my last words; you're a freaking idiot.'

'Huh?' Algar said blankly.

'Thank you,' I said and released the Inferno that I had been charging the whole time. The Inferno blasted Algar off me sending him straight up into the sky and smashing him into the Nexus across the sky. Algar roared in agony as he was smashed into the Nexus and I winced slightly as the Afrit was scorched by the Nexus. He dropped to the ground and lay still.

I picked my aching essence off the ground and turned into Ptolemy again before walking towards the priest who was staring at me in shock.

'OK pal,' I said, 'Perhaps you could do me a favour and get rid of this Nexus. Then I can leave here in a civilised manner.' The priest nodded hastily making a gesture and the Nexus disappeared. 'Thank you very much my good man.' I said and transformed back into an eagle and launched myself into the sky.

* * *

I returned to my master to find him reading a book on a chair in his room. I coughed to let him know I was there. He looked up.

'You've completed you're charge?'

'I have,' I said, 'and I defeated a third level Afrit single handed.'

'I don't need the details,' said the magician in a bored voice, 'well since you've completed you're charge I suppose I don't need you anymore.' He got up and stretched and I wondered if he'd been lounging in that chair ever since I'd left. Considering he was a lazy human it seemed probable. He stepped into his pentacle and muttered the dismissal words. The thing I liked about this guy was that he didn't waste time and got straight to the point. A lot of humans start long and pointless conversations. I departed and my essence headed back towards the Other Place.

**I don't actually know if a Nexus scorches the Spirits that touch it so I'm just guessing that it does.**


End file.
